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Climate change mitigation under ozone reduction protocol

Countries will gather in September to
celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the world’s most effective
international environmental agreement – the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The global community must
unite and adjust the Montreal Protocol to become an important tool
in the global fight against climate change.

Argentina and Brazil jointly submitted
proposals accelerating the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs) to strengthen the Montreal Protocol. Three small island and
coastal States – Micronesia, Mauritius, and Mauritania – submitted
similar proposals to avoid the dire consequences of climate change
jeopardizing their existence. Additional proposals to accelerate
the HCFC phase-out were submitted by the United States and jointly
by Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

HCFCs are a group of chemicals used mainly
as coolants in air conditioners and grocery stores and to make
insulating foams and other products. They are being used as
temporary substitutes for chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs) and other
ozone-depleting substances that are even more dangerous to the
ozone layer and climate system. HCFCs were intended to be replaced
once superior substitutes became available.

Eliminating HCFCs could reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by more than 25 billion tons of carbon
dioxide-equivalent-roughly five times the emissions reductions of
the world’s climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol. Some HCFCs are
more than a thousand times more powerful at warming the planet than
carbon dioxide.

Scientists are warning that rising
concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are fast
approaching the “tipping point” for abrupt and irreversible climate
change. This tipping point could be just 10 years away if climate
emissions are not reduced. Abrupt changes to the climate could
trigger rapid rises in sea level, more powerful storms, droughts,
and floods, diminished agriculture production, and shortfalls in
freshwater supply.

Leaders of many developed countries
expressed support for the adjustments on June 7th at the G8 Summit
Declaration committing to “accelerating the phase-out of HCFCs in a
way that supports energy efficiency and climate change objectives,”
and noting that “Improving energy efficiency worldwide is the
fastest, the most sustainable and the cheapest way to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy security… [and] …
could contribute to 80 percent of avoided greenhouse gases while
substantially increasing security of supply.”

Argentina and Brazil are leading the push
to strengthen the Montreal Protocol, along with a coalition of
other developing countries focused on strengthening the Montreal
Protocol to do its share to address climate change. The United
States also submitted a proposal, and has been very supportive to
strengthening the ozone layer and climate benefits of the Montreal
Protocol. With such leadership, the determined and persistent
proponents of changing the Montreal Protocol are capable of
changing the world.

Whether or not the international community
will come together to help evolve the Montreal Protocol into an
effective climate treaty will be decided in September.